The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism

Edited by Catherine Wessinger

Description

Seventh-Day Adventists, Melanesian cargo cults, David Koresh's Branch Davidians, and the Raelian UFO religion would seem to have little in common. What these groups share, however, is a millennial orientation-the audacious human hope for a collective salvation, which may be either heavenly or earthly. While many religions feature a belief in personal salvation, millennial faiths involve the expectation that salvation will be accomplished for an entire group by a superhuman agent, with or without human collaboration. While the term "millennialism" is drawn from Christianity, it is a category that is used to study religious expressions in diverse cultures, religious traditions, and historical periods. Sometimes, as with the American Millerite movement, millennialism expresses itself benignly. Other times, as in the Branch Davidians' showdown with the FBI in Waco, these movements turn violent. This handbook will offer readers an in-depth look at both the theoretical underpinnings of the study of millennialism and its many manifestations across history and cultures. The book will begin with a section that lays out the four different types of millennialism and will then move on to examine millennialism in a wide variety of places and times, from ancient millennial movements to modern apocalyptic movements. This handbook will be a valuable resource for scholars of religious studies, sociology, psychology, history, and new religious movements.

The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism

Edited by Catherine Wessinger

Author Information

Edited by Catherine Wessinger, Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor of the History of Religions, Loyola University New Orleans

Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor of the History of Religions at Loyola University New Orleans.

Contributors:

Yaakov Ariel - Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. W. Michael Ashcraft - Professor of Religion at Truman State University. Michael Barkun - Professor Emeritus of Political Science in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. David G. Bromley - Professor of Religious Studies and Sociology in the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. Barry Chevannes - Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of the West Indies, Mona. William P. Collins - Program Planning Officer at the United States Copyright Office. David Cook - Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University. Douglas E. Cowan - Professor of Religious Studies at Renison University College in the University of Waterloo. Lorne L. Dawson - Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at the University of Waterloo. Robert Pearson Flaherty - Teaches English at Kyungsung University in Busan. Eugene V. Gallagher - Rosemary Park Professor of Religious Studies at Connecticut College. Robin Globus - Doctoral student in the Religion and Nature Program in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida. Robert Gnuse - James C. Carter, S.J./Bank One Distinguished Professor of the Humanities in the Religious Studies Department at Loyola University New Orleans. Rosalind I.J. Hackett - Professor and Head of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee. Helen Hardacre - Reischauer Institute Professor of Japanese Religions and Society at Harvard University. Massimo Introvigne - Managing director of CESNUR, the Center for Studies on New Religions. Jeffrey T. Kenney - Professor of Religious Studies at DePauw University. Scott Lowe - Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Phillip Charles Lucas - Professor of Religious Studies at Stetson University. Rebecca Moore - Chair and Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. Michelene E. Pesantubbee - Associate Professor of Religious Studies and American Indian and Native Studies at the University of Iowa. David Redles - Associate Professor of History at Cuyahoga Community College. Jean E. Rosenfeld - Academic Researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles Center for the Study of Religion. Glenn W. Shuck - Assistant Professor of Religion at Williams College. Peter Smith - Associate Professor and Chair of the Social Science Division at Mahidol University International College, Thailand. Jon R. Stone - Professor of Religious Studies and affiliate faculty in American Studies at California State University, Long Beach. James D. Tabor - Chair of the Department of Religious Studies and Professor of Christian Origins and Ancient Judaism at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Bron Taylor - Professor of Religion and Nature at the University of Florida. Garry W. Trompf - Emeritus Professor in the History of Ideas at the University of Sydney in Australia. Hugh B. Urban - Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University. John Walliss - Senior Lecturer in the Sociology of Religion and Director of theCentre for Millennialism Studies in the Department of Theology, Religious Studies andPhilosophy, Liverpool Hope University, United Kingdom. Melissa Wilcox - Associate Professor of Religion and Director of Gender Studies at Whitman College. Daniel Wojcik - Associate Professor of Folklore Studies and affiliate faculty in Religious Studies at the University of Oregon.